Credit: Dave Pearson Photography
The Center for the Arts presents Virginia Opera's production of Richard Wagner's electrifyingÌýThe Valkyrie, the second opera in the epicÌý"Ring" cycle, on Saturday, Oct. 8 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 9 at 2 p.m.,Ìýwith the third and fourth installments in the cycle to come in subsequent seasons. Virginia Opera Artistic Director Adam Turner conducts the production, which is supported in part by the Wagner Society of Washington, DC (WSWDC), and participated Sept. 29 in a livestreamed talk with WSWDC Chairman Jim Holman. In the conversation, Turner explored thisÌýValkyrie for a new generation, discussing the reduced instrumentation of this version's score orchestrated by Jonathan Dove (starting at 20:01 in the recording), to the design (starting at 26:10) and sci-fi inspiration,Ìý´Ú°ù´Ç³¾ÌýTerminator to Star Trek, and beyond.
Turner notes that inÌýThe Valkyrie "people are losing their humanity, the gods are losing their godliness,Ìýand as that happens, people startÌýshowing the underbelly." The production's imagery, described by the The Virginian Pilot asÌý"futuristic and sci-fi...eschewing the usual Viking helmets-with-horns vibe,"Ìýexplores the world of analog versus digital, and as Turner says, "how nature is affected by the digital realm." He says, "our own humanity is being affected by artificial intelligence and chips and our devices...ÌýAs our lives become inundated with these digital distractions, do we lose a piece of our humanity, become less human?"
Turner also discussesÌýThe Valkyrie in a post on Ìýby Jim Allison, program director of WETA Classical and WETA VivaLaVoce.
Watch the recording of the Sept. 29 discussion below, and catch a pre-performance discussion with Virginia Opera Resident Scholar Joshua Borths 45 minutes prior to curtain on both dates, and a post-performance discussion with the artists following the Sunday matinee.
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Watch footage from Virginia Opera'sÌýThe Valkyrie.